Jose Aldo Shifts Gears, Agrees to Put UFC Championship on the Line Against Anthony Pettis

Jose Aldo Shifts Gears, Agrees to Put UFC Championship on the Line Against Anthony Pettis

UFC president Dana White was battling tremendous technical difficulties during his Monday night MetroPCS online chat on UStream, but did manage to get a little bit of official business done in the mean time.

White relayed that he spoke with UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s manager and trainer, Andre Pederneiras, who confirmed that Aldo had agreed to fight Anthony Pettis on Aug. 3 as originally planned.

“The Aldo/Pettis fight is done,” said White. “The fight is on. The fight is done, in August.”

White put the screws to Aldo when, following the UFC 157 post-fight press conference, he revealed to a group of reporters that Aldo was refusing to fight Pettis because he didn’t feel like Pettis, the No. 1 lightweight contender, deserved a shot at his belt immediately upon dropping down to featherweight.

“André Pederneiras was in England and sat down with me and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and said we don’t think he deserves it,” White said late Saturday night. “Well, he might be the number one guy at 155 (pounds), but how does that make him the number one (at 145 pounds)?

“Are you out of your (expletive) mind? Are you serious? Did you seriously just ask me that question? It’s like if Aldo wanted to move up to 155, are we going to say he’s not the number one contender? What are you talking about?”

White made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t happy with his champion’s stance.

“He’s going to fight Pettis or he’s not going to like how this turns out.”

Fans took to various social media platforms, most backing White, thrashing Aldo for not wanting to take the fight.

Aldo apparently took that to heart and reconsidered.

Jose Aldo will defend his UFC featherweight championship against Anthony Pettis on Aug. 3 at a venue and location as yet to be determined.